# Documenter error when specifying type signatures

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/documenter-error-when-specifying-type-signatures/142935>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** documenter\
**Created:** [November 13, 2026, 4:39pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/documenter-error-when-specifying-type-signatures/142935 "2026-11-13T16:39:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JonathanLilly](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/jonathanlilly/32/49070_2.png) [@JonathanLilly](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/JonathanLilly)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 4:39pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/documenter-error-when-specifying-type-signatures/142935/1 "2026-11-13T16:39:42Z")

</div>

Hi,

I am attempting to use Documenter and DocumenterVitepress and running into several errors when attempting to filter included docstrings.

A simple function in the module I am attempting to document is defined as

```julia-auto
"""
    unitize(x::Number) -> Quantity ...
"""
function unitize(x::Number) ...

```

This generates documention

````julia-auto
```
@docs
unitize
```

````

but this does not

````julia-auto
```
@docs
unitize(::Number)
```

````

Instead, I get a duplicate docs error

```julia-auto
**Error:** duplicate docs found for unitize(::Number) in @docs block
**ERROR:** LoadError: makedocs encountered an error \[:docs_block\] -- terminating build before rendering.

```

The full stack trace is shown below.

I’m not using autodocs, nor do I have `unitize(::Number)` documented elsewhere, so I’m quite puzzled by this.

Because I’m unable to filter on any type signatures, I can’t separate documentation for more complicated functions that have multiple methods.

This gives a different error

````julia-auto
```
@docs
unitize(x)
```

````

` **Error:** no docs found for unitize(x) in @docs block in src/reductions.md:11-14`

Relatedly, I am unable to ascertain from the documentation what the `(x)` does in the above. Even without a type signature, documenting `unitize` and `unitize(x)` behave differently but I don’t understand why.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

* * *

```julia-auto
Stacktrace:

  \[1\] **error** (s::String)

  @ Base ./error.jl:44

  \[2\] **runner(**::Type{Documenter.Builder.RenderDocument}, doc::Documenter.Document)

  @ Documenter \~/.julia/packages/Documenter/eCrmY/src/builder_pipeline.jl:259

  \[3\] **dispatch(**::Type{Documenter.Builder.DocumentPipeline}, x::Documenter.Document)

  @ Documenter.Selectors \~/.julia/packages/Documenter/eCrmY/src/utilities/Selectors.jl:170

  \[4\] **#105**

  @ \~/.julia/packages/Documenter/eCrmY/src/makedocs.jl:283 \[inlined\]

  \[5\] **withenv(**::Documenter.var"#105#106"{Documenter.Document}, ::Pair{String, Nothing}, ::Vararg{Pair{String, Nothing}}**)**

  @ Base ./env.jl:273

  \[6\] **#103**

  @ \~/.julia/packages/Documenter/eCrmY/src/makedocs.jl:282 \[inlined\]

  \[7\] **cd** (f::Documenter.var"#103#104"{Documenter.Document}, dir::String)

  @ Base.Filesystem ./file.jl:112

  \[8\] **makedocs(**; debug::Bool, format::MarkdownVitepress, kwargs::@Kwargs{…}**)**

  @ Documenter \~/.julia/packages/Documenter/eCrmY/src/makedocs.jl:281

  \[9\] top-level scope

  @ \~/Desktop/Dropbox/Julia/Flare.jl/docs/make.jl:68

\[10\] **include** (mapexpr::Function, mod::Module, \_path::String)

  @ Base ./Base.jl:310

\[11\] top-level scope

  @ REPL\[1\]:1

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![franckgaga](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/franckgaga/32/218241_2.png) [@franckgaga](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/franckgaga)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/documenter-error-when-specifying-type-signatures/142935/2 "2026-11-13T16:59:33Z")

</div>

Hello ! Could you share the complete repo that you tried to build the documentation ? It will be easier to help you. Also please use code block for code and stacktrace, like this:

```julia
"""
unitize(x::Number) → Quantity …
"""
function unitize(x::Number) …

```

it improves the readability. Also, is it expected that the character that you used for the triple quotation is `“”"` instead of `"""` ? I’m not sure Julia will parse them correctly…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JonathanLilly](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/jonathanlilly/32/49070_2.png) [@JonathanLilly](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/JonathanLilly)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/documenter-error-when-specifying-type-signatures/142935/3 "2026-11-13T17:20:21Z")

</div>

Hi Franck,

Thanks for your reply. I’ve used the code blocks as requested. The quotes are `"""`, they just became modified when because I didn’t use code blocks.

The repo is not public yet. I was hoping to sort out the documentation first. I will probably make it public before too long and then will come back with the link.